- Purpose: statement of problem.
In the United States, wireless technology faces stiff competition since there are many different service providers. This write- up explains how ROC Mobile could remarket Verizon Wireless Services instead of coming up with a very new wireless service provider. It is one of the successful strategies that increase a competitive advantage to the organization. This way, the new strategy will allow ROC Mobile to provide services to more markets in the United States as discussed by Wilson, (2012).
- Situation analysis and introduction
According to Wilson, (2012), the ROC Mobile strategizes to work with clients aged between eighteen and thirty four years in the city centers and leads such a life style. This was because of the results of a study that showed that this age had the highest possession of mobile phones than any other age bracket. This was defined as the age bracket that uses the internet and other mobile data applications. These applications were also seen to be among the mobile services that generated most profits for the sector. Compared to voice data services, these applications attracted more demand from mobile users. In fact a survey done in 2010 showed that the highest user age bracket of mobile phones was those aged between twenty and twenty four with a percentage of ninety eight. This was followed by those aged between thirty five to forty four with a percentage of ninety five, twenty five to thirty four year olds were ninety four. The lowest percentages were eighty-two for fifteen to seventeen’s and those aged sixty-five and above and a twenty percent for the younger generation. Research was conducted to report the annual growth of the number of mobile phone users between 1999 and 2013 with a forecast of what could be the trend in 2014 and 2015. There was an increase in the forecasted growth from 1999 all through to 2004, with 41. 24, 45.27, 47.37, 48.40, and 49.91 dollars respectively. However, the figure went down to 49.98 and further 49.79 dollars in 2005 and 2006. The figure went further down in 2012 to 47 dollars in 201. The figure is expected to go higher in 2014 and 2015 with a projected growth of 50.25 and 51.75 respectively. The markets therefore seem to improve as years go by. An analysis on data services compared to voice services was also carried out among people of different races to ascertain how much of a profit and advantage the product could be to ROC Mobile. Age eighteen to twenty four recorded a percentage of seventy five, eighty for twenty five to thirty four year olds, sixty eight for thirty five to forty four year olds were fifty three percent and thirty and sixteen percent for fifty five to sixty four and those with the age of sixty five years and above, respectively. Those in the urban areas totaled to sixty two percent, fifty six for those in the suburban areas and forty four for those who lived in the rural areas. White users were fifty two while blacks and Hispanic were sixty four and sixty three percent, respectively. This implies that those of the age bracket of eighteen to thirty four remained the highest customer base in the United States, as analyzed by Wilson, (2012).
- Discussion of alternatives
There are several mobile services providers in the industry as noted by Wilson, (2012). Verizon Company marked a higher market share from any other company of its kind. These organizations pose competition and risk to the company, reducing its market share and competitive advantage. Companies could choose a number of strategies to remain competitive amid others. Two different strategies could be applied in this case. One of them is avoiding any step of action and another one could be venturing into another market to reach more customers to the company. Verizon Company, having the highest market share in the industry could choose not to take any action. This way, all the processes and operations that the company has been doing to maintain its position in the market, will still remain their core businesses. All that the company could need to do is to improve on the processes, without changing any of them. Avoiding any action could imply that the processes and operations remained the safe and that hardware and software components remained unchanged. However, at times due to the increased and rapid change of technology, Verizon could be forced to change to an updated version of their hardware and software requirements. The aim of this operation is to ensure that the company is not left behind in technological advances, which could mean success or failure of the entire organization. For fear of getting to saturation after meeting the needs of their target, another alternative could be to venture into a different brand and product. This way, the company will have a range of products to offer to the market, hence ensuring that there will be no one moment when the market for the Verizon Company still has a high chance of dominating the market.
- Recommendation/ rationale
Two options are:
- avoidance of any course of action
- retain usual operations and processes
- improve on hardware and software
- specialization
- Including a new product in the market
- Train employees
- Purchase new tools and technology
- a paradigm shift
A careful consideration needs to be done and a feasibility study conducted. In this case, the best option is to use the first alternative of keeping the current operations and processes. It will cost less and that the organization will still keep up the market share as usual.
- Action Plan or Next Steps
The company could choose to enrich its market capacity by venturing into a new mobile technology application. The largest urban markets are Detroit, Washington, New York City, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles in that order. Nationally, Verizon Wireless Company maintained the highest market share of 31.6 in 2011 and 31.3 percent in 2010 out of the 104. 79 percent subscribers as analyzed by Wilson (2012). This implies that there needs to be a plan of actions to be undertaken, especially financial, to ensure that the new strategy is successfully implemented in the organization. This case chooses the strategy of venturing new markets since little will be needed to work on. The budget includes training of the members of staff on the new product which could cost 85, 000. Purchases would include new technologies, and putting anything else that will be needed with a total of 100, 000. Advertisement will be aimed at letting customers know about the new product, to cost 100, 000, maintenance of existing technology if need be at 55, 000, auditing and feasibility studies from the research and design department will be essential and at a cost of 65, 000 and a miscellaneous of 100, 000 for any irregularities. The budget will total to 505, 000.
- Contingency
In case the above strategy does not work, the company will be forced to stick to the other strategy of keeping the processes and operations that had existed before, with a few improvements in software and hardware if need be. This way, the company will still remain competitive in the mobile market.
References
Wilson, R.T, (2012). Case 1 Roc Mobile (1). Issue; advertising spending.
